In July, 2020, the program received a 5-year, $2.78 million grant from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) to establish combined advanced education training programs in Dental Public Health and either Geriatric and Special Needs Dentistry or Pediatric Dentistry.  The grant will also provide support for training in Dental Public Health alone, without training in one of the other programs.   Students supported as HRSA trainees will earn a Master of Science degree in Dental Public Health and a clinical certificate in either Geriatric and Special Needs Dentistry or Pediatric Dentistry.  Students will receive full tuition support, health insurance coverage, travel support and an annual stipend of $50,000+.

Lead faculty on this grant include Dr. John Warren (Preventive & Community Dentistry), Dr. Howard Cowen (Preventive & Community Dentistry) and Dr. Kecia Leary (Pediatric Dentistry).  Other faculty members participating in the project are Xi Chen, Jennifer Hartshorn, Steven Levy, Julie Reynolds and Rohit Nair (all from Preventive & Community Dentistry), and Michelle Krupp, Associate Dean for Education at the College of Dentistry.

Thus far, one trainee is nearly completion of the her program, one trainee is entering her second year, and we are about to welcome three new trainees beginning in July, 2022.